Rust & Vrede waterfall and other Oudtshoorn, South Africa Things to Do Tips

This small waterfall is well hidden in the mountainous area north of Oudtshoorn, on the road leading to Schoemanspoort. A 12 km long gravel road will lead you to the waterfall. Opening hours are 9-5 but, alas, the gate is still closed when we arrive at 9.45. When we are halfway back a man on a bike makes us stop and asks if we come from the waterfall. Yes, we do! Apparently he is the gate keeper and he's late at work. He hands us the key of the gate and there we go (drive) again ...
After the gate a small path leads upwards to the parking lot, about 2 km further. From there on it's a short walk of about 500 m on a very nice path, with small bridges and few steps, through the wood. It looks like a tropical rain forest with huge ferns and high deciduous trees. It's beautifully green. Halfway the hike we can hear the splashing of the waterfall. The whole area is protected area because the waterfall supplies drinking water in Oudtshoorn.
And suddenly there it is! Higher (74 m) and more beautiful than we had imagined. A very idyllic place just for the two of us.

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Address: R328, 23 km north of Oudtshoorn

The impressive Swartberg Mountains are the borderline between the Great and the Little Karoo. The highest mountain of this chain is the Swartberg itself. The Swartberg Mountains can be reached either over the spectacular Swartberg Pass (see my Swartberg page) or via the faster road over Meiringspoort.
Beautiful scenery with bizar formations of sandstone and red rocks.
On the road there are various resting places with (clean) bathrooms and well equiped picknick spots.

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Cango Caves is no doubt one of the biggest attractions in Oudtshoorn. The caves, tucked away in the foothills of the Swartberg Mountains are indeed spectacular.
The cave is 5.3 km long but only 1.2 km are open to the public, divided in a number of 'rooms' (I don't remember exactly how many rooms).
The standard tour lasts about 1 hour and leads through 9 rooms. You will see the most impressive stalactites and stalagmites.
An adventurous tour of 90 min. is offered to the well trained: narrow holes to crawl through and many narrow steps to take. And the humidity of 95% of course!

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Directions: About 25 km from Oudtshoorn, in the direction of Meiringspoort/Prince Albert
Website: www.cangocaves.co.za/

Oudtshoorn is the centre of the ostriches. Ostrich farms are all over the city and all of them can be visited.
We visited the Cango Ostrich Farm where we got a short lecture about all we had ever wanted to know about ostriches. ;)
Of course we went to look at the ostriches, they let us stand on ostrich eggs, my husband even rode an ostrich! Hilarious, because it's really difficult to keep your balance on the back of a bird! To ascertain the animal lovers (to which we consider ourselves): the ride took not more than 10 seconds and my husband is a lightweight.

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Phone: +27 44 2724623
Directions: On the main road, between the centre of Oudtshoorn and Cango Caves
Website: www.cangoostrich.co.za/

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

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The Red Stone Hills are located between Calitzdorp (the port wine village) and Oudtshoorn in the Little Karoo. It's a low rock formation of red colored rocks, hence the name.
We were just passing by when we drove from the Winelands to Oudtshoorn.

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